NEVER SAY NO TO A SALES REFERRAL

A good friend called me a few weeks ago saying he had a client that he wanted me to meet for a potential business connection. My friend is in the diamond business so my first reaction was that he probably did not really understand the type of work we do at 3FORWARD, but he was insistent I speak with this person as soon as possible. He introduced us via email then after a brief phone call we decided to meet face-to-face next time this person was in Dallas. That meeting recently occurred and I am really glad I took the time to make this new connection!

We met for coffee and immediately hit it off. It turns out that this individual is the CEO of a company that provides sales effectiveness software focused on helping complex solution selling teams grow sales revenues. Our discussion centered on the selling process, specifically on what portion of that process the sales rep controls versus what portion is controlled by the prospect.

He explained to me that data conclusively proves that by focusing on the things that are in your sales teams’ control your win probability increases dramatically. The two primary areas that a sales rep has control over are frequency and selling skills, and by proactively managing sales frequency and sales behavior skills, real sustainable growth is possible for the entire sales organization. His software helps sales reps and their managers achieve this.

The key to this process is to be able to capture and measure these behaviors quickly so that sales and pipeline reporting is accurate and as importantly, you have the ability to provide real time sales coaching to the sale person. The approach is simple and makes complete sense.

We plan on having additional discussions about how our firms might be able to work together. The real point of the story is to never dismiss a referral without taking the time to have an initial discussion; it could be costly!